Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz

Darcy Fitzwilliams is a successful businesswoman, at eighteen years old she set out on her own to make a name for herself. Darcy’s father disowned her when she decided to she couldn’t marry the man he had picked out for her, Carl Donavan. So instead Darcy is a self-made millionaire in New York City. She doesn’t have a lot of close friends, people assume she’s a snob. Darcy doesn’t have a boyfriend, but an on and off again fling with Carl.

Just when Darcy starts to really feel alone, she gets called back home to Pemberly, Ohio. Her mother suffered a heart attack and asked for Darcy to come home. Just in time for Christmas.

Back home in time for her family’s annual Christmas party, Darcy reunites with her best friend Bingley. But when Darcy notices that he meets and almost immediately falls for Jim Bennet, the oldest of the Bennet boys, she knows her only friend has left the party, leaving her at the mercy of her parents famous egg nog, mistletoe, and her old high school rival Luke Bennet. Which leaves Darcy, somehow, making out with Luke under the mistletoe.

Darcy shrugs off her experience as a drunken mistake. But as Darcy navigates the complexities of coming back home, she finds herself being drawn to the judgemental carpenter more than she’s ever been drawn to anyone. But will their prideful natures ever be overcome? Can they get past their original prejudices, and learn to love one another?

Well this was an interesting take on Pride and Prejudice, making it modern and swapping the genders. I have to say though, if this wasn’t a tiny novel I probably would have enjoyed it more. As it was there was very little time to get to know these new versions of the old characters (some of my favorite characters in fiction.) Darcy came off as a drunken, snobby feminist who constantly talked about her wealth. Luke came across as a jerk. And they both used people badly, getting quickly engaged to other people then just as quickly calling it off. Honestly I was not a fan of this book. It didn’t feel like a young adult novel, nor did it feel like a Christmas one either. Honestly do yourself a favor and cozy up with some hot chocolate, a blanket, and the Hallmark movie version of this book, which in almost no way resembles this book.

I wouldn’t let my child read this book because I would much rather watch the movie with them, along with eating a bunch of Christmas cookies. For sex, drinking, and honestly bad writing I give this book 8 out of 10 on the cootie meter.